Google+ Followers

Friday, June 21, 2013

Soccer players often thank The Lord for their performances on the field.
Especially in Southern Europe and South America (Brazil) there’s a growing number
of players expressing their faith, for example when they
enter or leave the pitch, and certainly when they score. But religion is not always a blessing. Sometimes it
can minimize or even end a career.

Sundays in the seventies

In Great
Britain, league soccer is normally played on a Saturday. It was not until 1974
that the English League started with some games on Sunday – from 1981 onwards
it became a weekly phenomenon. In 1974 Swindon Town goalie Jimmy Allan was
the first to refuse to play on Sundays for religious reasons. This refusal kept
him out of the first team for three seasons. Luton Town captain during the seventies Alan West (nowadays
a pastor at a local church in Luton) also once declined playing against Leyton Orient on a Sunday,
because he would miss Sunday mass. He wasn’t picked for that match, and after
that he occasionally did play on Sundays. Because in his opinion it was his job, just like
nurses and policemen work on Sundays. So West kept playing at Luton and also had a wonderful time in the American
NASL, with the Minnesota Kicks.

Taribo West

One of Newcastle United
stars from the eighties, Gavin Peacock, also had difficulties with playing on Sundays
and later became a Christian minister. Nigerian Taribo West had his own church for the homeless in Milan, dating from the time he played at Internazionale Milan. He preached at his church on Sundays, so his English
club Derby County accepted he would not turn up for some Sunday matches. His next club, Germany's 1. FC Kaiserslautern were less understanding and sacked West for choosing a mass in Milan over a training. Brazilian Paulo
Sergio became a minister after his soccer career. And Diego Maradona even has
his own religion, the Iglesia Maradoniana in Buenos Aires. In this church,
Christmas and Eastern are not as important as October 30th, Maradona’s
birthday.

Dutch
players

Folkert Velten

In the
Netherlands not playing on a Sunday as a professional can cause problems. As the
Dutch Eredivisie plays on Saturdays and Sundays randomly. Most clubs wouldn’t want a player that refuses to play on Sundays,
a lot of players declined offers because they feared having to choose between
faith and club. Exceptions were Jaan de Graf and Folkert Velten. Winger Jaan de Graaf (1955), born in Spakenburg, signed a contract with AZ’67 of Alkmaar in 1978. He lasted
only two seasons (44 league matches, 17 goals), and after a one year stint with
Go Ahead Eagles, De Graaf returned to his old amateur club, IJsselmeervogels.
During those three years De Graaf never played on a Sunday. Folkert Velten (1964) was
more successful. Even though he also never played on Sundays, he still is the all time
topscorer of his club Heracles Almelo with 156 goals. Although he never played or scored at the highest level, he was vastly popular during his playing days.

Jehovah’s
Witnesses

Peter Knowles

Back in the
sixties, Peter Knowles was a very promising soccer player at Wolverhampton
Wanderers. From 1963 until 1969, Knowles played 166 matches and scored 58 goals.
During that summer of ’69 Knowles had a contract with Kansas City Spurs. There
he became a Jehova’s Witness. Soccer lost its meaning for Knowles, and after
nine matches into the 1969-70 season he retired, just 24 years old. Again, back
in the Netherlands, ADO Den Haag defender Joop Korevaar also was a Jehovah’s
Witness. It didn’t harm his club career, he spent fourteen successful years at the
club. He wasn’t available for the
national team though, because that conflicted with his beliefs.

Seventh Day
Adventists Church

Argentinian
goalkeeper Carlos Roa played for his country at the World Cup 1998 and had a
great career in Argentina (Racing Club, Lanus) and Spain (Real Mallorca). As a
Seventh Day Adventist, he suddenly took a religious retreat in 1999. As he believed the world
would end in the year 2000, at first he didn’t want to renew his contract at
Mallorca. At the end of the 2000-01 season (the world kept turning) he returned
in goal for Mallorca and later for Albacete.

Zimbabwean
team AmaZulu (champions of 2003) refused to play against Motor Action in 2004
because the game was scheduled on a Saturday-afternoon, which was against the
believes of owner Delma Lupepe, business tycoon and a Seventh Day Adventist. The
Zimbabwean F.A. didn't want to make an exception and fined AmaZulu for not playing. A disturbed Lupepe left the club,
AmaZulu lost their sugardaddy and was relegated the next year and collapsed soon after.

Erroll Bennett

The most
remarkable solution in a conflict between religion and soccer occurred in Tahiti, in 1977. During the seventies Erroll Bennett (born May 7, 1950) was by
far the best player on the island. He did play six months at Paris Saint Germain
in 1972, but returned as he couldn’t cope with the French style of play.
Bennett led Tahiti into the final of the Oceania Cup in 1973 (losing 2-0 to New
Zealand) and was topscorer of that tournament.

By 1977, Bennett was in a league
of his own at his club Central Sport. Almost every year Central Sport won the
league, with Bennett scoring an average of two goals every league game.

Latter-Day Saint

Erroll Bennett (right) with his son Naea Bennett, also a prolific goalscorer

As a amateur,
Bennett worked as a policeman on the island. Then he and his wife had a meeting
with bishop Lysis Terooatea and both felt the need to be baptized. Bennett, at
27 in tghe best years of his soccer career, wanted to be a Latter-Day Saint more than
anything. Which meant he had to stop playing soccer, because Mormons had other
things to do than play soccer on a Sunday. Everybody, including his father, advised
against it, as Bennett was loved by all Tahitians for his soccer skills
and his friendly, relaxed attitude. One week later, the Tahitian F.A. had a important
meeting. Bennett had been asked to wait with his announcement to retire until
this meeting. With the fear of losing their most talented soccer player of all
time, the Tahitian F.A. decided that from now on the national league would be
played on Saturdays, instead of Sundays.

This
decision meant Bennett could continue to play soccer, and at the end of
his career was crowned league top scorer a record eleven times. Bennett was
known and respected throughout the whole of Oceania. And even if opponents in Fiji, Vanuatu or anywhere else in the Pacific knew
that they had a much better chance of winning an international friendly tournament
without Bennett playing, only a few
times they weren't willing to skip all matches on Sundays.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Winning the World Cup is the one
most glorious moment for a soccer playing country. For four years you get to
carry the title of World Champion. It is also a big responsibility. You have to
prove that you’re the best, and other countries try to get your scalp. Here are
the winners that weren’t really up for the task, collecting too few points from
their matches in the following four years.
Starting with the mediocre and going downhill from there.

Rules: Only official international matches, matches against for example
Rest of the World XI are not considered. Two point for a win, one point for a
draw. Period: straight after the World Cup win, until the day before the start
of the next World Cup.

9. Brazil (2002)

Brazil was a very convincing World
Champion at the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, winning all seven
matches. Before the next World Cup in Germany in 2006, they played 55
international matches. Taking 74 points from these matches isn’t bad at all,
although ten other World Champions did perform better.

Disappointments: failing to get to the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in 2003,
losing against Cameroon.

Other information: Brazil was inviting to the Gold Cup 2003, but sent an Under-23 team.
The matches were valued as full internationals, and Brazil lost twice to
Mexico.

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

Brazil 2002-2006

55

28

18

9

74:36

110-45

67,27%

8. Brazil (1962)

In 1962 Brazil was crowned World
Champion for the second time. They indeed were the best team but compared to
1958 it wasn’t that spectacular. The whole tournament in Chile of course was a
bit boring (and ugly, for example the Chile – Italy match). Building up to 1966
Brazil got better, but especially 1963 was a nightmare.

Successes:
Undefeated in 1965 (10 matches).

Disappointments: fourth place at the Copa America 1963, losing three matches. Also losing 5-1 to Belgium (1963), 3-0 to Italy (1963) and 1-0 to the Netherlands (1963).

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

Brazil 1962-1966

44

25

9

10

59:29

95-55

67,04%

7. Italia (2006)

At the World Cup in Germany 2006
Italy weren’t one of the favorites. They had some luck against Australia, beat
Germany in extra-time and claimed the title after a penalty shoot-out against France.

During their four years they ran out
of luck, but still managed to win more than half of their games.

Successes:
Unbeaten during the Qualification Stage for the World Cup 2010.

Disappointments: Only reached the quarter-finals at the European Championship 2008, early exit during the Confederations Cup 2009 (losing to Egypt 1-0!)

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

Italy 2006-2010

47

24

14

9

62:32

69-45

65,95%

6. Argentina (1978)

After the World Cup 1974, Argentina under Coach Luis Cesar Menotti built a new team with home-based players (Mario Kempes being the exception to that rule) and did win the World Cup in 1978. Afterwards, most of the players left for Spain (Bertoni) or England (Ardiles, Tarantini) and later Italy, and played just a few matches for the national team. For instance, Kempes only played six games for Argentina between 1978 and 1982.

Successes: Undefeated
as of May 16, 1980, until October 28, 1981 (10 matches)

Disappointments: Not getting into the semifinals at the Copa America 1979 and losing
matches against West Germany, Yugoslavia, England and Poland.

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

Argentina 1978-1982

29

12

11

6

35:23

47-32

60,34%

5. Uruguay (1950)

Uruguay brought Brazil to tears at
the Maracana Stadium in 1950, claiming their second world title in their second
attempt. For nearly two years after that game, Uruguay didn’t play any
international matches.

Successes:
third at the Pan American Championship 1952, behind Brazil and Chile, third at
the Copa America 1953.

Disappointments: Playing only sixteen matches in four years is hardly doing the FIFA a
favor, and losing 1-4 against Paraguay in 1954.

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

Uruguay 1950-1954

16

8

3

5

19:13

45-26

59,37%

4. Italia (1982)

Italy shocked the world at the World
Cup 1982. First they eliminated Argentina’s Diego Maradona (Claudio Gentile fouled the
Argentinian star 23 times), then they played a great game against crowd
favorite Brazil.

After winning that World Cup, Italy
had a poor four year reign.

Successes:
None really.

Disappointments: only fourth (4th!) place in the qualifying group for Euro
84, behind Rumania, Sweden and Czechoslovakia. And losing matches against Switzerland
(1982) and Norway (1985).

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

Italy 1982-1986

29

12

8

9

32:26

34-28

55,17%

PS: All the World Champions so far
at least had a positive balance in their four years reign. The worst three
couldn’t even accomplish that.

3. West Germany (1954)

West Germany provided the biggest upset
in World Cup history, taking the title in 1954 from the superior Hungarians.
They did the right thing at the right time, but after that failed to make any impression
in the years leading up to the World Cup 1958.

Successes:
None. Most of their eleven wins were against second rate opponents.

Biggest disappointments: Losing against Belgium (1954), France (1954), the Netherlands (1956), Switzerland
(1956) and even the Republic of Ireland (1956).

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

West Germany 1954-1958

26

11

1

14

23:29

41-45

44,23%

2. Argentina (1986)

Diego Maradona won the World Cup 1986 singlehandedly. From his team only Jorge Burruchaga and Jorge Valdano were good enough players, the others only worked hard to let Maradona shine. So it came to no one as a surprise that Argentina had a hard time displaying themselves as a true world champion. They failed. With Maradona (17 points from 19 matches), and without him (18 points from 20 matches).

Successes: third
place at the Copa America 1989.

Disappointments: fourth place at the Copa America 1987 (at home!), losing both matches
(against the Soviet Union and Germany) at the Four Nations Cup in 1988 in
Germany, only third place at the Bicentennial Gold Cup 1988 (losing 4-1 to
Australia!)

Country

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Percentage

Argentina 1986-1990

39

9

16

14

34:44

35-43

43,58%

1. Uruguay (1930)

Uruguay’s national team that won the
first World Cup in 1930, was basically the same that took the gold medal at the
Olympic Games in 1924 and 1928. So after the 1930 victory, part of this
successful generation said goodbye to the national team. At the same time, the
Uruguay F.A. was very disappointed that only a few (weaker) European countries
travelled to Montevideo for the World Cup 1930. The F.A. returned the favor and
decided not to defend the title in Italy in 1934. The national team was
practically dissolved, as it played only six matches in those four in-between years.
Combined with the farewell of their best players, Uruguay only won their friendly
match against Argentina on May 18, 1932, losing the other four (two times
against Brazil, two times against Argentina). That makes Uruguay 1930 by far
the most disappointing world champion of all time.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

At the start of the 1931-32 season in Hungary, Ferencvaros was very anxious
to get their first title since 1928. That doesn’t seem a long time, but the
club was used to winning trophies, collecting eleven titles since the start of
the league in 1901. This season the combination of experience and talented young
players was unstoppable, as Ferencvaros won all their 22 league-matches.

Beating Uruguay

Supporters of Ferencvaros hadn’t much to cheer about, after their club
won the league and the cup in 1928, ánd the prestigious Mitropa Cup (7-1, 3-5
against Rapid Wien) five months later. Ferencvaros (also known as ’Fradi’) lost
the 1929 league by one point to Hungaria Budapest, a year later Ujpest was two points ahead. Ujpest
(also winner of the Mitropa Cup in 1929) looked like they were becoming a class of
their own, also clinching the 1931 title. Ferencvaros only managed third spot,
six points behind.

In fact, the only success in three years time came in a friendly match in
Uruguay. On July 21, 1929 Ferencvaros played against the double Olympic
Champion Uruguay (1924, 1928) at the Montevideo stadium and won 3-2 (Jozsef Takács scored two goals, the other was scored by Mor Rázsó). One year
later Uruguay would be crowned the first world champion ever.

Youngster György Sarosi

Looking at the Ferencvaros-squad that won the Mitropa Cup in 1928, nine of them were still active at the club in 1931: goalkeeper Ignác Amsel, the brothers Géza
Takács I and József Takács II, Antal
Lyka, Márton Bukovi, Elemér Berkessy, József Turay, Ferenc Szedlacsik and
Vilmos Kohut. Talented new players were goalie József Háda, Gyula Lázar, Géza
Toldi and perhaps Fradi’s best ever player: György Sarosi. At the start of the
season still only 18 years old, Sarosi had already played seven league-matches in the famous green and white. This season he was a regular, playing in a rather defensive
role. It shows how versatile the skilled Sarosi was, as in later years he would
become a prolific goalscorer, scoring more than 430 official goals during his
career.

Géza Toldi taking a shot

Easy victories

The point was, Ferencvaros didn’t need Sarosi upfront. With József Takács and Géza Toldi, accompanied by Ferenc Szedlacsik and Vilmos Kohut, their
attacking force terrified defenders. In the first three matches of the season
Fradi won 7-2, 7-1 and 6-1. Just to make clear what their ambitions were. It wasn’t until match No. 9 against big shot Ujpest that things
got a bit hectic. Only Géza Toldi managed a goal, giving Ferencvaros an
important 1-0 victory. The first half of the season ended early December with
another big win, 6-1 against Somogy. Takács scored three, bringing his
tally to an amazing 26 goals in just eleven games.

After a three months break Ferencvaros still was on a roll. Most games
were won easily (Somogy was trashed 10-1), only three times the margin was just
two goals. Two of them occured at the end of the season, Ferencvaros already being the champion.

This is what the final table looked like on June 12, 1932:

Club

Games

Won

Draw

Lost

Points

Goals

Ferencvaros

22

22

0

0

44

105 - 18

Ujpest

22

16

4

2

36

67 - 32

Hungária FC

22

16

3

3

35

62 - 24

Bocskai

22

11

4

7

26

43 - 46

III. ker. Budapest

22

11

2

9

24

37 - 44

Budai 11

22

8

3

11

19

31 - 43

Somogy

22

7

2

13

16

23 - 52

Attila

22

5

5

12

15

23 - 40

Kispest

22

4

6

12

14

29 - 54

Nemzeti

22

5

4

13

14

27 - 52

Vasas Budapest

22

5

3

14

13

41 - 69

Sabaria

22

3

2

17

8

17 - 31

József Takács II

The strength of Ferencvaros in this season, is shown in the 22
victories, but also in the fact that the club scored 105 goals, with all clubs
together scoring 505 (= 21%). And of course Jozsef Takács topped the
scorerslist with 42 goals, way ahead of Laszlo Cseh II (Hungária FC) with 26 goals.

The Squad

Ferencvaros only used sixteen players during the whole season, five of
them were ever-present:

Player

Year of birth

Matches

Goals

Ignác Amsel (Goalkeeper)

1899

10

0

József Háda (Goalkeeper)

1911

12

0

Géza Takács I

1899

22

0

Lajos Korányi

1907

18

0

Lajos Papp

1906

4

0

Márton Bukovi

1903

1

0

Antal Lyka II

1908

22

1

György Sarosi

1912

19

4

Gyula Lázár

1911

22

1

Mihály Táncos (Rumania)

1905

22

4

József Takács II

1904

22

42

József Turay

1905

16

10

Ferenc Szedlacsik (Czechoslovakia)

1898

13

8

Vilmos Kohut

1906

21

9

Géza Toldi

1909

16

25

Elemér Berkessy

1905

1

0

Mihály Táncos

Winning the league was the only title of the season for Ferencvaros.
The team also reached the cup final on June 6, against Hungária FC. It ended
1-1, with Kohut scoring the goal for Ferecvaros, with Hungária’s star player Pal
Titkos replying. Three months later, the replay saw Hungária win 4-3. Again Titkos was important with two goals, Szabo and Baratky adding the other two.
Toldi, Turay and Táncos got on the scoresheet for Ferencvaros.

In the meanwhile, Ferencvaros also played in the Mitropa Cup. They had
no chance against Juventus in the quarter-finals, losing 4-0 away on June 29, 1932. Four days later, Ferencvaros surprisingly got an 2-0 lead at home (two penalties from Sarosi within 18 minutes), but Juventus soon levelled the score. It ended 3-3 with another Sarosi-penalty. Ferencvaros simply were no match for Juventus’ trio from Argentina: Renato Cesarini, Raimundo Orsi and Luis Felipe Monti.

Top Goalscorers

Still, it was a remarkable season with remarkable players. For example,
looking at the all-time Topscorerslist of the Hungarian league (from 1901
until now), players from this Ferencvaros-team occupy number 10 (Géza Toldi,
271 goals), number 6 (György Sarosi, 351 goals) ánd number 4 (Jozsef Takács II,
360 goals).